Rich Fisher

General Manager & host of StudioTulsa

Rich Fisher passed through KWGS about thirty years ago, and just never left. Today, he is the general manager of Public Radio Tulsa, and the host of KWGS’s public affairs program, StudioTulsa, which celebrated its twentieth anniversary in August 2012 . As host of StudioTulsa, Rich has conducted roughly four thousand long-form interviews with local, national, and international figures in the arts, humanities, sciences, and government. Very few interviews have gone smoothly. Despite this, he has been honored for his work by several organizations including the Governor's Arts Award for Media by the State Arts Council, a Harwelden Award from the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa, and was named one of the “99 Great Things About Oklahoma” in 2000 by Oklahoma Today magazine.

In addition, Rich is an active musician. He’s currently the principal trombonist of the Signature Symphony at TCC, leads the Starlight Jazz Orchestra, and is a free-lance musician whose work ranges from the pit of touring Broadway musicals, to the salsa band, Grupo Salsabor.

Ways to Connect

Our guest is the Tulsa-based author Joe Johnston, who's originally from Missouri, and who's written many books over the years on various topics. He joins us to talk about his newest publication, a folksy, far-ranging, and conversational history of Southern cooking -- from sun tea and fruitcake and vegetables to "the Colonel's chicken" and BBQ and beyond.

Our guest is Marc Perrusquia, a journalist with the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper, where he's worked for the past three decades. Perrusquia has a new book out, a very compelling work of history called "A Spy in Canaan: How the FBI Used a Famous Photographer to Infiltrate the Civil Rights Movement." As was noted of this book by Kirkus Reviews: "The story of an African-American photographer who spent 18 years feeding information to the FBI.... Over a 60-year career, Ernest Withers (1922-2007) produced more than 1 million photographs chronicling black life in the South.

(Note: This interview originally aired back in January.) On this edition of ST Medical Monday, we offer an interview that stems from three rather alarming facts. One: About 10 percent of Americans are implanted with medical devices (such as pacemakers, artificial hips, cardiac stents, and so on). Two: The overwhelming majority of high-risk implanted devices in the U.S. have never undergone a single clinical trial. And three: Medical interventions have become the third leading cause of death in America. What in the world, you might ask, is going on here?

The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, which is part of the National Park Service, will soon host a three-day symposium here in Tulsa regarding the preservation of roadside architecture and attractions. It happens April 10th through the 12th, and it will include 20+ invited as well as solicited papers, an evening neon-sign tour, and a half-day field session exploring local roadside attractions and issues related to their preservation.

On this edition of ST, we learn about the remarkable ongoing work of one Father Patrick Desbois, a Catholic priest and Vatican consultant who's also the founder and president of Yahad-In Unum, an international organization that has thus far interviewed more than 5,300 eyewitnesses of Jewish and Roma executions by Nazi mobile units at more than 2,100 sites across Eastern Europe.

The Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa will now be known as AHHA Tulsa. As per the AHHA website: "The organization's Board of Directors voted recently to change the name to something modern that encompasses the organization's mission to cultivate creativity in Tulsa, while also honoring its decades-long history.

Our guest is Bruce D. Haynes, a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Davis. He's the co-author of a new memoir, "Down the Up Staircase: Three Generations of a Harlem Family," which interestingly blends personal narrative, African-American social history, and the literary and academic cultures of Harlem and New York City.

Our guest on ST Medical Monday is Dr. Barbara Lipska, Director of the Human Brain Collection Core at the National Institute of Mental Health, where she studies mental illness and human brain development. She joins us to discuss her engaging and disturbing new memoir, "The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery." As noted of this book by Kirkus Reviews: "A vibrant mental health expert's bout with brain cancer and the revolutionary treatments that saved her life....

Our guest is Kim Brophey, a nationally certified and award-winning canine behavior consultant based in Asheville, North Carolina. She joins us to discuss her new book, "Meet Your Dog: The Game-Changing Guide to Understanding Your Dog's Behavior." In this work, Brophey explains her so-called "L.E.G.S." approach -- as in, "Learning, Environment, Genetics, and Self." As was noted of this book by Alexandre Rossi (the author of "A Dog at the Keyboard"): "It's refreshing to finally find a book that takes into consideration the many predispositions to behavior problems in dogs.

This coming Friday and Saturday, the 30th and 31st, the Helmerich Center for American Research here in Tulsa will present "Dislocations and Migrations," an interdisciplinary symposium of academics, activists, archivists, curators, librarians, and other experts -- all of them exploring ideas of displacement, departure, arrival, relocation, removal, escape, and so on. Our guest on ST, the journalist Jessica Bruder, will be the keynote speaker at this upcoming gathering.

On this edition of StudioTulsa, we are pleased to chat with the world-renowned tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, who has performed or recorded over the years with everyone from George Harrison and Yo-Yo Ma to Van Morrison and Mickey Hart (to name but a few). On this coming Friday night, the 30th, the nonprofit South Asian Performing Arts Foundation will present a special concert featuring Mr. Hussain alongside Rakesh Chaurasia, an up-and-coming and well-respected flute virtuoso. The concert begins at 7:30pm in the John H. Williams Theatre at the Tulsa PAC.

(Note: This interview originally aired last year.) On this edition of ST Medical Monday, Dr. David Palma is our guest. He is a Canadian radiation oncologist and cancer researcher who focuses on the treatment of lung, head/neck, and metastatic cancers -- and he tells us about his new book, which is just out: "Taking Charge of Cancer: What You Need to Know to Get the Best Treatment." As was noted by Dr. Tony Mok of the Chinese University of Hong Kong: "If you use a guidebook for a journey, you will need [this book] for a cancer journey.

On this program, Tulsa Symphony Orchestra Principal Guest Conductor Daniel Hege previews the orchestra's final classics concert of the season, which features Gustav Mahler's Symphony #4 with soloist Sarah Coburn. Also on the program is Edward Elgar's "In the South (Alassio)", a tone poem written while the British composer vacationed on the Italian Riviera, and contemporary American composer John Adam's "The Chairman Dances" from his highly influential opera "Nixon in China".

On this edition of ST, we meet poet and novelist Alan Michael Parker. Parker is a Professor of English at Davidson College and his latest novel, "Christmas in July" (published by Dzanc Books) tells the story of ten very quirky and eccentric characters who encounter a thirteen-year girl with cancer in her final days.

Our guest is Dr. Daphne de Marneffe, a noted clinical psychologist in the San Francisco Bay Area who has counseled couples and individuals for decades. Her new book, "The Rough Patch," aims to help married people both locate and maintain a union that promotes compatibility between an individual person's development and the often relentless demands of a two-person relationship. As was noted by Booklist, this volume is "densely packed with de Marneffe’s extensive knowledge of human emotional development and the parent-child relationships that affect us from birth....

Our guest on StudioTulsa is internationally acclaimed "stickwork" artist Patrick Dougherty who is currently creating one of his trademark architecturally inspired sculptures made entirely of willow saplings. It's the latest offering from the Tulsa Urban Core Art Project which has brought a series of temporary public art installations to locations around Tulsa's downtown.

Despite the growth in enrollment at existing medical schools and the emergence of new schools, there's still a physician shortage in many parts of the United States, particularly in rural areas. Even in some urban environments, there's a shortage of specialty care, necessitating long trips to see a doctor or specialist. So how can medical professionals spread existing care to underserved areas?

Our guest is the accomplished nonfiction writer, journalist, and essayist, Anna Badkhen, who is currently a Tulsa Artist Fellow at work on her first novel. She joins us to discuss her book, "Fisherman's Blues: A West African Community at Sea," a detailed and engaging volume just recently published. Per the Dallas Morning News: "In elegiac vignettes, Badkhen portrays the trick and snare of a heroic and punishing profession....

Our guest on ST is the Right Honourable Henry McLeish, a former professional football player, who began his political career in Fife, Scotland, in the early 1970s. He was later elected to the United Kingdom Parliament (in 1987) and then became a member of the Blair Government (in 1997). McLeish became First Minister of Scotland in 2000, taking responsibility for Scotland's emerging role on the European as well as the World stage, leading official government missions internationally, and implementing Scotland's social and economic policies.

It's been commonly noted that we as human beings are basically hard-wired for long walks -- and for the thinking, observation, and spiritual reflection that always comes with such walks. Henry David Thoreau, for example, believed that walking alone through the woods was in itself a remedy for most of life's problems. Another such person might be the journalist and storyteller Steve Watkins, who's our guest on ST. In his new book, "Pilgrim Strong: Rewriting My Story on the Way of St.

On this edition of StudioTulsa, we speak with the Austin-based, Montana-raised filmmaker Alex Smith, who's currently visiting TU in order to screen and answer questions about his feature film, "Walking Out." (The film will be shown tonight, the 13th, at the Lorton Performance Center; the screening is free to the public.) Smith and his twin brother Andrew work together on various film and TV projects, and "Walking Out" is their most recent movie.

On this installment of ST Medical Monday, our guest is F. Diane Barth, a longtime psychotherapist based in New York City. She joins us to discuss her new book, "I Know How You Feel: The Joy and Heartbreak of Friendship in Women's Lives." As was noted of this readable and useful study by Kirkus Reviews: "A psychotherapist offers advice about how to be, and keep, a friend. Barth, whose Psychology Today blog frequently focuses on women's friendships, draws on interviews with diverse women to examine the 'magical, meaningful, and surprisingly difficult' connections they make with friends.

Our guest on this edition of StudioTulsa is Eric Schlosser, the well-regarded American journalist and filmmaker whose bestselling books include "Fast Food Nation" (2001), "Reefer Madness" (2003), "Chew on This" (2006), and "Command and Control" (2013). This last-named title reveals the details of America's ongoing efforts to prevent nuclear weapons from being stolen, sabotaged, or detonated by accident.

Our guest on StudioTulsa is Prof. Paige West of Barnard College in Columbia University. She's an anthropologist who's been researching the Pacific Island country of Papua New Guinea for more than two decades.

On this installment of StudioTulsa, our guest is the well-regarded cyber security expert, Susan Landau of Tufts University. She will soon give the 2018 Graves Cyber Security Distinguished Lecture here at TU; her talk begins at 7pm tomorrow night (the 8th) in the Alan Chapman Student Union. Her talk carries the same title as her latest book, "Listening In: Cyber Security in an Insecure Age." As Prof.

Our guest today is Lee Gordon, the 2018 Laureate of the Brock Prize in Education. Gordon is the founder of Hand in Hand: The Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Israel. This Israeli non-profit organization has created a network of integrated, bi-lingual public schools serving Arab and Jewish children alike. Starting with just 50 students in 1998, as we learn on today's StudioTulsa, Hand in Hand by now has six campuses. It also has, more to the point, some 1,600 or so students who belive in Jewish-Arab partnership and coexistence.

It's often noted that health care in America is changing quickly and dramatically -- and that it is, moreover, in a state of crisis -- but can the same be said for therapy? Our guest on ST Medical Monday is Dr. Enrico Gnaulati, a clinical psychologist based in California.

On this edition of StudioTulsa, we are pleased to present another installment of Museum Confidential: The Podcast. This podcast -- the 11th in the series, and which is just being posted today -- is called "The Right to Fail: Getting to Know The Museum of Bad Art." It features an interesting conversation with Louise Sacco, the so-called Permanent Acting Interim Executive Director of MOBA (a/k/a The Museum of Bad Art).

(Note: This show originally aired back in October.) On this edition of StudioTulsa, we speak with Dr. John Bargh, a social psychologist at Yale who's widely seen as a leading expert on the unconscious mind. He joins us to discuss his new book, "Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do." As was noted of this volume in a starred review in Library Journal: "Although the work [in this book] is girded with years of studies and research, humor and use of personal anecdotes keep the writing accessible.

Our guest is Tom Clavin, the popular historian whose latest book, "Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West," is just out in paperback. As was noted of this book by the Houston Press: "Thorough, compelling, and entertaining.... Clavin sprinkles in fascinating tidbits about life and culture in the Old West.... In 'Dodge City,' Clavin vividly re-creates a time, a town, and an era that it seems incomprehensible occurred less than 150 years ago.